Indonesia moved closer to full democracy Friday, swearing in legislators elected in landmark polls to a newly-reformed parliament free from military representation.
In a ceremony witnessed by outgoing President Megawati Sukarnoputri, 550 members of the upper House of Representatives and a 128-strong senate-style Regional Representatives Council took oaths to serve their country.
However, even before the legislators began their work, observers expressed doubts the political reforms would eradicate problems of endemic corruption.
Supreme Court chairman Bagir Manan presided over the swearing-in of the two chambers, which make up the People's Consultative Assembly - the first fully elected parliament with no military and police presence.
The ceremony marks the culmination of democratic reforms which began after the resignation of military-backed dictator Suharto in 1998 and led to the country's first ever direct presidential elections last month.
Legislators - 70 percent of whom are new faces, including a former actor and a one-time Miss Indonesia - pledged to work as "fairly and justly as possible" for their country.
Indonesia's previous parliament was plagued by absenteeism, with many legislators taking advantage of five-star hotel accommodation but failing to attend sessions.
Under a new code of ethics approved last month, assembly members will face reprimands unless they fulfill their tasks and will be subjected to scrutiny for abuse of power and corruption.
But Bambang Widjojanto of the Partnership for Governance Reform said new measures did not go far enough and greater controls, including a "caucus" of self-regulation, were needed to keep lawmakers in check.
"A caucus of legislators that is designed to keep its members from corruption is urgent given the fact that corruption, collusion and nepotism are rampant," Bambang told the Jakarta Post.
Hundreds of student demonstrators gathered outside the parliament Friday urging legislators to avoid graft. The protestors tore the gate to the parliament off its hinges, but there were no reports of arrests or violence. In another historic vote on September 20, Indonesians elected to replace Megawati with ex-general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has pledged to fight the graft which has hampered economic growth when he takes office on October 20.
Yudhoyono, who heads the minority Democrat Party, will however face a struggle to implement reform promises in a parliament dominated by the Golkar party which formed an uneasy coalition to back Megawati in the polls.
While the once-powerful military's political role has been sidelined, a controversial bill was approved in the final hours of the outgoing parliament that redefined its post-Suharto role but gave concessions to top commanders.
The new law gives the army an ambiguous mandate to maintain a territorial presence in "strategic" locations. While it also prohibits armed forces leaders from entering politics, it allows them to hold certain senior civilian positions.
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